Vehicle construction



- March 16, 1937'; c. w. AVERY VEHICLE CONSTRUCTION Filed July 10, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR TORNEYS.

March 16,1937. c. w. AVERY VEHICLE CONSTRUCTION Filed July 10, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I W fl R N 36 mc Mfi I.

Patented Mar-.- 1c, 1937 UNI ED STATES PATENT OFFICE vEmcLii CONSTRUCTION Clarence W. Avery, Detroit, Mich. Application my 10, 1933, No. 679,616

9.Claims.. (01. 286-106) .My invention relates to automobile constructions and particularly to an automobile wherein sub-assembly units are provided which are readily securable together, designed particularly to facilitate the shipping-of automobiles in freight cars and vessels which more efliciently employ the space by shipping in subassembly units and whicheliminate a large part of the assembly expense at the manufacturing plant and at points remote therefrom.

The broad .concept disclosed-described and claimed inmy co-pendmg application Serial No. 667,362, filed April 22, 1933, embodying primarily the separation of the chassis frame at the front terminal, end of the body forming two sub-assembly units, the front unit comprising the engine,.hood, front wheels,

springs and transmission and a rear sub-assembly embodying the rear wheels, springs, propeller shaft, differential and body. A complete automobilechassis is provided th'rough the attachment of the rear portion of the front chassis section to the front portion of the rear chassis section in a fixed or releasable manner.

My present invention embodies 'a commercial construction of the device and therefore is a further extension of the invention described and claimed in the above mentioned application. In

1 the present construction the rear end of the side elements the front chassis section are united by a flanged plate which encompasses the end and which is provided with ,anaperture through which the propellerhousing ,and shaft extend. The rear engine mounting frame is supported on 35 the converging portion of the rear extensions of the frontsection and braces are illustrated which may be employed at this point for preventing any side vibration to'the front chassis section. .The rear section has the longitudinally extending side portions made of box section bythe securing of two channel elements of different depths together throughout the length of the members except for the points at which the bracing is to occur where the inner channel element is disposed adjacent. to the web portion of the outer channel element to provide space for securingthe' bracing element thereto. Thecqmplete chassis section when as- 'sembled together forms an extremely rigid construction-which, from test, hasproven that the constructionjis stronger'than the present unit chassis frame employed on a like automobile.

Accordingly, the main objects of my invention are to provide sub-assembly units which are readily joined together to form a complete automobile chassis; to provide a chassis section for a vehicle body having longitudinally extending side members which are of box section construction; to provide a chassis portion for the front sub-assembly which has converging longitudinal side portions which are joined together in unit'construction;

v ployed'.

of my invention has been.

.lll-Hlthereof,

to provides. supporting element for an engine-- interconnecting the side converging portions of the chassis frame; and, in general, to construct,

anautomobile body with a separable chassis frame now em- Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of thestructure illustrated in Fig. 2, taken on the line 3-3 thereof, v I

Fig. 4 isan enlarged sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 2, taken on the line {-4 'thereof, a Fig. 5 is a broken plan view of the chassis-frame units when assembled together,

' 25 Fig. 6 is a view in elevation of the structugef illustrated in Fig; 5,

Fig. '7 is an enlarged'sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 5, taken on the line 1 thereof,

Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional view of thestructure illustrated in Fig. 7, taken on theline 8-8 thereof,

Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 5, taken on the line 9-.-9 thereof,

-Flg. 10 is an enlarged sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 5, taken on the line Fig. 11 is an enlarged broken view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 5, r L

-Fig. 12' is an enlarged sectional view of the l2--l2 thereof, a

Fig. 13 is a-- view similar to that illustrated in Fig. '11 showing a modified form thereof, and

Fig. 14 is a view of structure similar. to that i1-' lustrated in Fig. 3, showing a modified form thereof. v I 1 Referring to Fig. 1, Ihave illustrated an automobile body .20 which is to be secured to arear chassis section 2|, preferably in'unit assembly; therewith, the-chassis frame having the rear springs 22 thereon which are secured to the rear axle housing 23 in a well known manner- A front sub-assembly unit 24 comprises the front chassis 'structure illustrated in Fig. 11, taken on the line section 25 having an engine 26 mounted thereon along with the front springs 21 and front axle 28 with the transmission 29 and steering ear. The front sub-assembly 24 is attachable to the rear chassis section 2! in any suitable manner, preferably by bolts orother releasable means which permits the chassis to be separated so that the engine'portion may .be remove'd from the body portion to be readily worked upon. The assembly of the units to form a unit vehicle is illustrated in Fi 2.

Referring to Figs. 5 and 6, the rear chassis portion 2| is made up of longitudinally extending members 20 having a front cross brace and rear cross braces SI, 32 and 33 respectively. The front chassis section 25 is likewise provided withvtwo longitudinal members 34 having a front cross brace 35 which forms the front support for the automobile engine. The longitudinal members 34 are inwardly converging and are joined by a brace 38 which forms the rear support for the engine and which are further joined together at -the terminal end of the section 25 in a manner side walls which are secured to the side flanges of the outer element 31. The securing is done preferably by spot welding so as not to heat the elements to cause their distorting which would occur upon the warping of the material. It is to be understood, however, that steam welding, bolting, riveting or any other well known means may be employed for securing the two channel elements together to form a box section for the rear chassis section 2|. The inner chassis element II is ofl'set at the end and at points throughout the longitudinal length of the element Slat which bracing elements are tobe secured to the longi tudinal member.

In Fig. 3 I have illustrated the element- 38 as' being inwardly pressed within the outer member 31 to have the web thereof in complete nested relation and the side walls or flanges of the element 38 extended to the full depth ofthe flanges of the element 21, The front longitudinally extending portion 34 of the front chassis section 25 joins with the rear section, being nested within the channel element 38 and having nested within it! self a reinforcing channel element 4i to provide strength to the front longitudinally extending member. Bolts 42 are illustrated as being-employed for joining the front and rear chassissections together but it is to'be understood that if -the sections are to be retained in fixed relation.

after complete assembly, rivets, welding, brazing or thelikemay be substituted for the bolts 42. 1 preferably employ bolts or other readily separable means which, while retaining the two sections in tight relation, permit the sections to be separated. Y

Threaded elements 43 are preferably secured to theinner surface of thecha'nnel element 31 as illustrated more clearly in Fig. 4 for the purpose of having the bolts 44 threaded therein for securing a floor board 45 to the chassis frame. A scuff .plate 46 is secured toQthe floor board at the door opening, as illustrated more clearly in Fig. 4, against which a sealing element" of a door 48 may abut.

The cross brace 3| is illustra ed en a g d in Fig; '2 wherein the offset of the inner channel element 38 from the channel element-.21

'is more clearly shown and which provides room for the seeming of the cross member II to the longitudinal channel element. This is preferably effected by the use ofrivets 49 although it is to be understood that welding, brazing or other means may be employed.v The brace II is enlarged at" the central portion 5| to provide an aperture 5! through which the propeller shaft housing extends. The element 3| has an outer marginal flange 52 and a flange 53 is provided at the edge of the opening 5|. The flange is more clearly illustrated in Fig. 8 is forming means for closely engaging the end of the front section 25 of the chassis.

The converging portions 54 of the. chassis are welded, brazed or otherwise secured to an annular gusset plate 55 having outer flanges 55 and inner flanges 51. Flanges 58 are formed on the end of the diverging portions 54 which are readily welded, brazed or otherwise secured to the element 55.

The element 55 projects overthe flange 53 and 1 i in tight relation to the flange l3 and to the flanges 52 of the cross member.

In a similar manner, a taper is provided to the .portion '60 of the front chassis section 25 for the purpose of permitting the'sliding ent of the portion and the end of the longitudinal member 20 of the rear chassis section 2|. A tight engagement is effected between the two parts beforethebolts flaredrawnuptoformaflrm joinder between the elements 55 and 5' of the sections. In Fig. 9, I hnvemmtrated in 101 8 tudinal section the rear motor simport and brace "and the engagement of the gusset plate II with the cross brace 2|. The tight fit between the flanges 5!,51, s2 and." isclearlyillustrated.

The motor support as illustrated more clearly ,in Fig. 10 is of conventional form havlm an aperture 6| therein through which the transmission angfropeller shaft housing extend and which fo a cradle for bracipgandv the rear end of the engine. In Figs. 11 and-l2 I have illustrated a side bracing'eluncnt 52 which may be riveted to thelongitudinallyextending members 3. of the chassis section 2! andwhichmate with the converging portionof the front chassis section 25 to be flxed thereto by a bolt 3 mother suit- :;-able securing means. The securing of the element '2 by the bolt 53 is shown more clearly in Fig. 12. -A channel shaped relnforcim member 54 is nested in the member 34 and overlaps the forward end of the member", asshown inl'ig. 11.,

In Fig. 13 the brace 421s omitted since it was found in practice that, under certain conditions and certain types of bodies, the braoewas not necessary and suflicient rigidity was obtained without the -employment of the brace. In this construction the only between the front and rear chassis sections are at the portions ilandbetweenthegussetplatellandthecross frame 3|. 1-

In Fig. 5, I have illustrateda channel member 4| which is disposed adiacen't'to the portion 04 of the longitudinally extendingmembers 34 of the front chassis section which is employed to add strength to the front longitudinal member at a point where the steering apparatus is secured. This is illustrated as the element 64 in Fig. 11. In Fig. 13, I have illustrated a box section structure extending from the front to the extreme end of a unit chassis frame.

It is well known that the box section structure is considerably stronger than the mere disposition of two plates directly together and for this reason material strength is added to the entire chassis frame. In a similar manner the front section could be made of box section construction so that such section would extend from the front end of the front section to the rear end of the rear section, all points thereof having box section construction. At all of the bracing points the outer section is offset inwardly having the flange extended so that at the inwardly. extending por-' tions the flanges onthe inner and outer portions terminate in the same plane. This may be accomplished by forming a channel with unit side members and after being preformed to have portions offset as illustrated in the figure, pieces may be Welded therein to form a? straight line of the ends of the side flanges or a deep channel may be employed and after the forming operation the projecting edges may be trimmed off to have them mate with the edges of the outer channel element 31. g

In Fig. 14 I have illustrated a section at thepoint 60 'of the joined frame which is similar to the section of Fig. 3 with the exception that the also beof box'section. By having a box section chassis, that is to say, the longitudinally extending members from the front to the rear end of the chassis frame being of box section, material strength is added to the construction whether or not the chassis is separable or constructed as a unit. When a unit chassis construction, as illustrated in Fig. 13, is employed, the same construction will be utilized except for the elimination of the joint at the point 60 which may have a wide box section construction or which may be offset to receive cross bracing members or X members as commonly employed in the art.

While I have described and illustrated but two embodiments of my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes, omissions, additions and substitutions may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, as set forth in the accompanying claims.

I claim as my invention:

l. A'chassis frame having longitudinally extending side members of box section formed by inwardly presented channel elements, the inner channel elements having portions of the web deflected inwardly from other portions thereof and thesi-des extended atthese portions to have the edges of the flanges terminate in a plane and which are mateable with each other to form a" unit construction including, in combinati longitudinally extending side members'on ne section having cross braces therebetween forming a unit construction upon which a body may be secured, one of said cross braces being flanged, a front section likewise provided with longitudinally extending side members and cross braces, the rear portion of said front section converging at the rear end, and an annular flanged element secured to the rear end of the front section and nested within the flanged cross brace of the rear I chassis section.

3. In a motor vehicle, a chassis frame formed. of front and rear sections engageable with each other'at the sides, a portion of the rear section being flanged to receive the end of the front section in telescopically nested relation, the interfitting end of the front section being flanged in tapered relation to the nesting flange on said rear section, and means for drawing said por tions together to have the tapered portions sprung to form a tight joint.

4 In a motor vehicle, a chassis frame of separable front and rear sections, the front section joining the'rear section at two sides and a central portion, all of which are in telescopically tapered relation to each otherat the joining portions,

and means for drawing'thetwo central portions at least two cross-braces, the front section including side elements interconnected by a crossbrace and having the rear ends converging, a

brace interconnecting said converging portions, and securing means for said sections for uniting the front section in aligned extension with said rear section with the converging end engaging a cross-brace toform a K frame laterally of the chassis.

6. A separable chassis frame including, in combination, afront section having side rails converging at the rear, cross braces for said rails, a rear section having side rails and cross braces, and separable connection for uniting said sections with the rails in longitudinal extension and the converging portion engaged with a brace of the rear section to form a K frame laterally of the chassis.

7. A chassis frame, including in combination, a front section made up of spaced side elements the rear portions of which are in converging relation, a rear section likewise having spaced side elements which mate with the side elements of the front section near the point where the side elements begin to converge, and a cross-brace on the rear section engaged by the ends of the converging front side elements.

8. A clfissis frame made up of front and rear sections having side members, the front section having the rear portion of the side members in converging relation to provide an aperture, 2. cross-brace between the side members of the rear chassis section having an aperture, and means for retaining said two sections together with the apertures in aligned abutted relation.

. 9. A chassis frame, including a front and a rear section, both sections having longitudinal extending members whi h mate with each other to form the side elemen of the complete chassis frame, the front elements converging and extending beyond the point ofengagement of the side members, and a cross-brace on the rear section engaged by the converging portions of the front section.

CLARENCE W. AVERY. 

